Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-03-09
The Monitor.

About miinight Il strange small craft came
and anchored beside the Minnesota. The
Cohfetlerates who saw her next morning said
afterwards she looked like black plank with
Il Yankee cheese box on top The mysterious
small flat object was John Ericsson's Monitor
aud This wa, her trial trip. She had come
into tn" roads that night Just in time to hear
tn last of the cannonading. Her commander
was Li,lIt. John l. Worien. L. s n
The Yankee cheese box that the Confed-
crates saw was revolving tower or turret,
twenty feet III diameter and ten feet high
bomt proof Inside were two 1l-inch Dahl
gren cannon. which could he turned and
aimed in any direction through the portfolios
Of the tower The guns were revoIyed with
power from the double cylinder engine that
propelled the boat The deck of the vessel
was nearly level with the water, and down
Uiler this all the crew STAYED except the
two who worked the guns within the turret
The boat WAS sharpened at both ends, 124 feet
long u feet wide, and had double hull
L.. upper hull projected all over the lower
on-. and protected anchor rudder and screw
propeller The whole top was decked over WITH
heavy iron The top of the turret was of rail
road bar iron armored over with iron plate
lJi,- being left for ventilation To get at the
Monitor machinery, ana damage her. shot
:.Ouid have t. pass through twenty feet Of
water and then strike a slsnting heavy iron
Iiat- Thus there was nothing a shot could
ff,tt,. h no Act
the low fat pilot house, which latter was as
heavily built as the turret The smoke stack.
also protected with heavy iron boxing was
built telescope fashion with slides that could
b. drawn within one another when the vessel
auS il action
There was no way to get into her except
down a ladder through the turret one man
at time Such was the invincible little
demon Of war that came down to meet the
Mer1msc She was built in 100 days out
and out.
The MelTimac AMI Monitor fight was no
exception to the rule that the great battles
# our war occurred on Sunday So did the
battle Of Waterloo, and many other great
fights the world over
SUNDAY, March Q. about 6 clock in the
morning, the sloping roof of the tremendous
ram doomed up through the haze, and bore
down upon the Minnesota With her were
Tolerate gunboats Patrick Henry. James
town. Raleigh Beaufort and Teaser. To-
gethar they carried eleven guns In the
battle of the day before Commodore Bu-
chanan had been severely wounded by
shot from the Congress, and in the ac-
ton Of March 9, the command devoved
upon his first officer, Lieut.. Catesby Jones'
The powder division on board the Congress was
in charge of PaymaSter Mexican Buchanan,
brother of the commander of the Merrimac.
Only one thing had prevented the destruc-
ton of the Minnesota in the action of Satur-
dar. and that was the fact that she was
grounded IN water too shoal for the Mer-
rlJnac to come near her Her misfortune had
proved her salvation
At the approach of the Merrirnac and her
tenders on Sunday morning the drums of
the Minnesota heat to quarters Away down
under water the crew of the little Monitor
got ready for fight
A strange scene in naval warfare then took
place The gray bearded captain at Old
Point Comfort tells it as though il happened
yesterday The Monitor was only one-ffth
the size of the Merrimac and of very much
lighter draft.
The Merrlmac steamed mp past the Mime
sofa toward Fortress Monroe Then she
turned and prepared to come straight at the
Minnesota